Townsend, Tennessee - Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina

Welcome to the Fishing Report. i've got one word to describe the scene out the window this morning. GLOOMY. Cold rain is still falling. Clouds are clinging low to the mountains. Little splashes of color are becoming more visible each day as the Smokies quickly change from Summer to Fall.

When I checked the rain gauge this morning there was only 0.05" collected. It isn't raining hard right now....just a sloppy drizzle. The rain is supposed to clear up by afternoon leading into a much nicer rest of the week. We aren't going to be getting warmer than the 70's for the foreseeable future.

Water levels are great all around the Smokies. Most streams are running just slightly higher than normal for the time of year. The Little River gauge this morning was 1.61 feet or 98 c.f.s. The median flow for today is 77 c.f.s. Water temps have dropped over the last couple of days also. Little River was 54 F. this morning. If you haven't dusted off the waders yet I think it is probably time.

We heard some reports of tough fishing over the weekend. Water levels and temps are good so maybe it had to do with the weather change and rain. I would definitely be starting out with nymphs weighted down with split shot to get them to the bottom. As the week goes on or later in the afternoons try switching to a dry.
BH Prince Nymphs, BH Tellico and Copper Johns and even Green weenies should be good bets. Sizes for the nymphs...#12-#16.

Dry patterns have been the old standards. Parachute Adams, Stimulators, Elk Hair Caddis etc. There isn't much of anything really hatching out there so something buggy looking, drifting well ought to do the trick.

The brookies are starting to show off their own Fall colors. Some of the pictures I've seen on the Message Board have been of beautifully colored Brook trout. I love it when they are almost black on top and that dark vibrant red on the bottom.

We've got more sales reps coming by this week. Maybe they'll have some new cool stuff to show.